Friday, December 21, 2012

Dabang 2


New pot from the same mould

 

                Debutant director, Arbaz Khan’s Dabang 2, a sequel to the blockbuster hit of 2010, Dabang, is more of a good business opportunity to its makers than just a film. Dabang 2 feeds on the success of its predecessor, and heavily at that! It has almost become a rule to produce a sequel to every successful film that is made in the Hindi film industry, be it the Dhooms, the Housefuls or now the Dabangs. But it is clear that magical films do not get made every day and on the top of it, to reproduce the magic in the sequel without solid content is rather a weird task.

                Dabang 2 happens to be a caricature of Dabang in almost all ways. But this replica falls short of recreating the magic its predecessor created. Having said that, Dabang 2 is not particularly a bad film.  Director Arbaz Khan and writer Dilip Shukla make a decent entertainer with some witty and comic dialogues, wacky action sequences and good performances.
 


                What keeps this film from being a good film is the simply the story which is coherently similar to Dabang's except that Chulbul now has a happy joint family and a pregnant wife. The clichéd and extra ordinarily influential villain whose ego is periodically tickled by Chulbul and then a chance for a big revenge is what Dabang had, and is naturally inherited by its sequel’s script.

                What’s good about this sequel which none of the sequels in Bollywood have managed before is that, its director maintains the image of its protagonist from the predecessor rather than going overboard. Chulbul Pandey is as strong and flamboyant as in Dabang without getting extra powers or qualities. I believe the character is what the audience will cherish and connect to in Dabang 2. Arbaz Khan as a director captures some really mature and touching interactions between Chulbul and his wife (played by Sonakshi Sinha) and celebrates post marriage romance onscreen.

                Screenplay is very amateur and you literally see the film running in a cyclic order of action-drama-romance-songs making the already weak script annoyingly predictable. Action is stylised with an effective background score and good editing, however, it seems overdone in parts. The entry action sequence is lengthy and monotonous while the finale sequence is disappointing. Music is average and the funniest part is that each song inherits from its coinciding song from Dabang in terms of singers, tune, setting and the situation in the story. Dabang 2 is a new pot from the same mould!

                Prakash Raj plays the overpowered villain, he can never disappoint. But don’t expect a Singham level performance because he surprisingly has a less screen time. Arbaz Khan and Vinod Khanna carry their characters ahead with ease. Sonakshi Sinha cake walks through another role in the shadow of a flamboyant hero played by a big star. Salman Khan as Robinhood Pandey or this time the Kung Fu Pandey steals the show. You will find the same Chulbul, a little fat though, delivering big faced one liners, smacking goons with ease and going shirtless in the finale sequence. Salman Khan never pretends to know to act, but pulls it off with sheer screen presence and his real life dabang attitude reflected on screen.

                Dabang 2 is neither a magical film nor a trash! But it’s earning big buks for its producer is inevitable just as the consequent production of a dozen more Dabangs is!

               
I am going with a 2.5 out of 5 for Arbaz Khan’s Dabang 2. If pure Salman Khan entertainer is what you are looking for, then Dabang 2 is your destination this festive season.



Rating:


 

 
 
Trailer:

 

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